Quebec's health network is planning to continue its dependence on private agencies.
The Quebec government launched a call for tenders on Monday that would grant more than eight million hours of work per year to private agencies for nursing and assistance employees like nurse clinicians, nursing assistants, orderlies and auxiliary workers.
Quebec is aiming to fill work hours in across the province by tens, sometimes hundreds of thousands of hours per year depending on the region.
The contracts will be awarded to the agencies for a period of six months, but the call for tenders includes three renewal options of the same duration, covering two years. A rough calculation based on 35 hours per week over 52 weeks indicates that this is the equivalent of just over 4,600 full time jobs.
ANOTHER CONTRACT ALREADY AWARDED
In addition, similar contracts have already been awarded this fall for nearly one million hours per year to agencies for occupational therapists, physiotherapists, social workers, respiratory therapists and other jobs related to these professions. Those contracts will total nearly 855,000 hours per year spread across all regions, again for a potential duration of two years.
Those contracts have already been awarded and amount to $60 million per six months, for a total of $240 million for the full 24-month period, the equivalent of 470 full-time jobs. On the nursing side, as contracts have not yet been awarded, the value is so far unclear, but since the needs will be similar to last year, we can expect more than $750 million, as all positions combined for last year's total was $875 million.
DUBÉ: LAW AFTER THE FACT?
These contracts come at a time when Health Minister Christian Dubé, has been repeating over and over for months that he is seeking to free the government from private agencies. On Tuesday, in an interview with the Journal de Montréal, he even stated that he was working on a bill to regulate the use of agencies, that could be tabled as early as the next parliamentary session in January.
The idea of a bill to regulate a practice already bound by contractual obligations leaves health-care union FIQ perplexed. In an interview with The Canadian Press, its vice-president, Françoise Ramel, struggled to follow the minister's thinking.
"We are certainly surprised because he is talking out of both sides of his mouth. On the one hand, he talks about making a bill against independent labour, then on the other hand, he makes a call for tenders with so many hours."
The crisis in all of Quebec's health establishments, all of which are understaffed, leaves the government with little choice, she readily admits. "We're also aware that we can't eradicate the use of independent labour overnight like that. It has to be gradual," she said.
COMPULSORY OT FOR AGENCY WORKERS TOO
"It's definitely a huge dependency for the network. We really need this staff now, but where are they going to find them?" Ramel asked. However, she said she's pleased with the terms of the call for tenders, which require agency employees to work compulsory overtime when requested by the institutions.
Also, agencies can only hire an employee who has left the network for at least a year.
"What's also good about this call for tenders is that it has provided a better framework for compulsory overtime for agencies and a better framework for the period of time before rehiring a person who leaves the network. This could help to stop the hemorrhaging of staff. Except that we won't get staff back like that unless better working conditions, attraction and retention of staff are put in place," said Ramel.
These hirings of private agent staff are likely to be at the heart of a negotiation that promises to be arduous, with the positions of Quebec City and the unions far apart.
- This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Dec. 22, 2022
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